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In all Microsoft operating systems, there is a registry which loads as your computer starts up. The registry lets the operating system know what settings to to start your computer up with. Most settings on our computers are stored in the registry somewhere, we just need to know what to change to achieve what we want.

Windows Mobile devices also have a registry. We can customise many of the defaults on our devices to suit our needs. The structure is very similar to the Windows Registry structure, so if you are familiar with it, you will find this just as easy. If you have not yet delved into a registry, you will find this quite tricky.

This article will cover some of the changes we are able to make to our devices, through our devices registry. I hope to update this article as time goes on so please use the comments to report your own changes. These hacks are for Windows Mobile 5 devices, though some may work with other versions of Windows Mobile.

Find a Registry Editor:

There are a number of free register editors available for Windows Mobile Devices. We have the option of editing the registry from either a desktop computer or the device itself. I have not tested out any of the programs below extensively but I can confirm they will perform any of the changes listed on this page.

Opening up a registry and making changes is slightly risky. If we change the wrong key, it is possible that our device will no longer work. Backup your devices data before continuing. You should be prepared to reinstall the operating system on your device if something bad does happen. I give you this information for educational use only. If you decide to tinker this way, you are doing so at your own risk.

Mobile Registry Editor: runs on your desktop and connects to your device using ActiveSync. Once you have this installed, connect your device via ActiveSync and click on one of the folder to the left. If the right side refreshes, you have a connection.

Being a desktop application, it is easy to navigate and make changes using your keyboard and mouse. As I don’t make many registry changes away from my desktop computer, I would generally use this.

Both of these editors are suitable for the changes listed below so choose what you think will work best, or try them both out, they are both free.

I have tested all of the hacks below and they have all worked on my Ipaq rw6828. You may experience that some do not work on your device. If you have no luck, I recommend changing the keys back to what they were originally so you do not experience problems down the track.

On with the hacks:

Remove “Message Sent” Notification when sending text messages.

Navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Inbox\”

Create a keycalled “Settings”

Create a String Value called “SMSNoSendMsg”

Set the value to “1”

Now when you send a text message, you will feel a little naked.

Change contents of New menu on the “Today Screen”

The “New” button allows you to create various file types directly from the today screen. Adding new items in is tricky but it is easy to remove them.

Look in the keys and remove the items you no longer want. Adding them back will be a pain so take caution doing this.

Change which items load at startup.

Navigate to“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shell\Start Items”

Add or Remove keys according to what you want to run. Not all programs are listed here as some programs are configured in their own settings.

Change the amount of suggested words when inputting data.

Navigate to“HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sip”

Find “SuggWords”

Change value to between 0 and 6(4 is the default)

I have been using my device with one word showing since I got my device. This is also configurable through the Settings/Input applet but it did not work for me until I made the registry changes.

Change the location of My Documents to the SD Card.

This one is complicated but possible. I had to play around with this one for a while trying and failing with several methods, succeeding with this one. The order in which you do this is essential.

Please ensure that your SD card and My Documents are backed up. It is recommended that you do this on a fresh install of your ROM. This cleared out my “My Documents” folder but I was able to restore it.

1. Reset your device2. Synchronise your device with your PC3. Navigate to “HKLM\System\StorageManager\Profiles\SDMemory“4. Change the “Folder” key to “My Documents”5. Rename your original “My Documents” folder to “My Docs”. This is a crucial step, but it does not matter what you name it.6. Power off and reset your device.7. Sync your DeviceYou should see in “File Explorer that your “My Documents” folder has an SD card icon next to it.Copy your files back into your My Documents.

I hope these have worked for you. Please put more in the comments as you come across them. There are bound to be hundreds of these tweaks. If tweaking is not for you, check out the rest of Inspect My Gadget for other types of workarounds.

Mike, Outlook Express does not sync up nicely with Windows Mobile. I haven’t tried it, but you may be able to get your gmail contacts to sync with your device. Apart from that, you might be able to use thunderbird or another free email client which you can sync your Outlook contacts into and then sync with your device.

Russell, I don’t know why it is not working. You may want to try some tweaking software such as this tool. I am not sure if this tweak is included, but there may well be other software available that will do the tweak for you.

Is there a way to:
1. Block operator hello and byebye messages? They come in a form of short video and are very loud.
2. Force programs to ASK for the permission to access WEP/GPRS/HSDPA – my phone sometimes starts data connection god knows why.

I downloaded the nueled and i when i disable the lights on the list they keep blinking i don’t mind the lights i just hate not knowing how to use something i have in case i ever do need to turn them off how do i fix this?I have an htc ppc6800

Anu, you got me searching my phone. I knew it was possible, but forgot how to do it. Then I remembered. Get your hands on Advanced Configuration Tools. It has a nice interface which lets you do change these softkeys quickly and easily. It also lets you do lots of other nice stuff too.

Is there a way to increase the amount of program memory, taking just a litle from storage. I have a SD card so I would like a little more memory for the programs (for example, Opera sends me an error every 10 secs saying I don’t have enough memory even if it is the only app I’m using at the moment)

Jeudy, on some devices, in settings/memory, you can change the amount of memory allocated to program storage and program running memory. If there is no slider to allocate more for running programs, uninstall programs you don’t use too often and install them on the SD card instead of the main memory. I install almost all my programs on the SD card and they perform just as well.

Hi Jeudy, I don’t have any more ideas on this one. Maybe look for memory management software. I would agree with you that if anywhere, the registry is the first place I would look to allocate more memory to apps. Software may make it easier.

Hello Chris! Would you please let me know how can I change the font size of the calls screen in Windows Mobile 6?
Also, the phone numbers shown on that screen, when in vertical position, are limited in 6 digits, and the rest of the number is hidden, like this “015994…”
Is there a way to change this limitation and show the complete numbers?

Good question Manglio. I am not sure of any registry hacks which would sort this problem out. You can change font size in settings>screen, but this does not change the size of fonts in the call screen, or most other places in the device.

There are 3rd party dialer utilities that can replace the default dialer. They are sort of like themes. You may find one that is costomisable. I did a quick search and found this one within a minute – it may be good or bad. Please let me know how you got on with it.

I don’t know the registry setting, but I did try the 5 minute check on another phone and I recived a savagely high bill after 2 days use. If you have access to an exchange server, push email works really well. Messages get to my phone quicker than they get to the PC 100% of the time.
I know this doesn’t answer your question, but I hope the information will be helpful.

I am using the native VoIP soft phone included on WM6.1 and have had trouble while making calls since the app is sending an encryption key and the telco does not support it, can you help me to disable that encrypt please?

Hi Frank,
I have no idea how to fix this. I doubt it is possible. You could try another VoIP soft phone, or contact the maker of the native software to see if they can help. You may find a google search on your telco and the softphone may come up with someone else having the same problem.

hello. is there ayway to edit the registry for the emergency number change??? i heard that is posible to edit the numbers there and whitout sim card or without any $$$ on your sym u can make free calls> is that true? i need a answer pls

I haven’t found anything about changing the emergency number through the registry, but it makes sense to me that it would be in there somewhere. You could search your registry for various emergency numbers and see if anything comes out.
Is it possible that it is associated with the devices locale, so changing the location settings on your device may also change the number?
I think that you can call emergency for free without the sim installed. I am not game to try it though. This is from an australian travel website.

000 calls are free on all mobile phones. From analogue phones, 000 will connect callers, although many newer digital phones require the user to dial 112, the international standard emergency number. Consult your carrier if you are uncertain how to access the 000 emergency network.

is there a way i can connect a windows mobile wi-fi or wireless lan to the internet when the phone service is cut off?? I know there is probably a way because i did it once but im not real sure how i did it it only lasted for about 3 minutes though!! then it cutt off

Hi Josh, you should be able to do this through the wifi connection settings of the phone. The phone should turn on still and let you use Windows mobile. The only thing that wont connect is your phone connection. If the wifi settings are correct, they should have no impact on the phone connection.

Would recommend spending a couple bucks on SK Tools. Every time you change the registry on your phone it automatically backs up the settings as they were before the mods. Plus it has some other excellent features besides the Reg editor.

Is there a way to hack the registry so that message balloons such as “Connecting to: Media Net; GPRS,3G”, and “Error, cannot connect to wap.cingular” don’t pop up. Of course, my text is specific to AT&T but hopefully you understand the messages I’m talking about. I’m usually in a weak signal area and these messages constantly interfere with me using other features of the phone.

I lost track of my voice mail passkey, is there some sort of file thats stores all your passcodes?
i have a HTC Touch Pro2
if you know the answer email me, i may have more problems down the road
im a novice gadget hacker and an adept white hat

Help please, i have a Workabout Pro G2 Handheld device using windows mobile 6.1 professional, when a reboot the device it prompts for the sim card pin (phone pin, for some purpose i want to stop this prompt, either by disabling the prompt screen, hiding it or removing it.